Go Team USA!

I realized I ought to make Olympics nails for multiple reasons. One, because, well, GO TEAM USA! And two, because I'd like to capitalize on the popularity of the Olympics. However, I was really scared of creating something too tacky, and I didn't even want to attempt the 5 rings on that small of a scale. I considered some torches, but wasn't really feeling it. Then I realized rows of medals would be pretty.

Almost nautical

I know I never show pictures of the steps, but I could have stopped at any one of these steps and still had a very lovely manicure. 

These remind me of superheros!

 These I actually did not do a topcoat on these, which is extremely out of character! However, the red is a "matte suede" texture (as Revlon calls it) and I thought it might look better without a shiny topcoat, as the 

Final Product

The double medals do not "mean" anything, as people keep asking me. I just like my nails to not be identical.

Pink and Green

These nails were an obnoxious idea and I just did not love the execution either. In fact I kind of hated them and re-did them after a day. They would have been better if I had done two coats of a green under the glitter instead of only one. Yuck.

Indian Wedding

Two weeks ago I attended an Indian wedding. Well just the reception, although I wish I could have attended at least some of the ceremony! Regardless, I fell in love with some of the traditions that come with a large Indian celebration. The choreographed dances by like every relative, the music and of course the delicious food! My gosh, it was fantastic. It's hard to believe that only 2 years ago I barely liked any Indian food and now I not only love the food, but I'm kind of obsessed with the culture. Especially the dancing.

This wedding may have been the unconscious inpiration for my nails today. Jewel tones and gold always make me think of saris. I love the beautiful colors on saris. Which could be considered a little odd considering my personal taste in fashion runs more towards the darker, subtler solids as opposed to bright and shiny prints. Saris just manage to keep it classy.

 It may also have been inspired by the gold polish I got at Sally Beauty Supply about 3 weeks ago. When I am unsure about a color, or think I won't use it very often I sometimes get it in Sally's tiny sample sizes. It's not any cheaper than just buying cheap brands like Wet N Wild, but it makes me feel like I'm saving money. Don't worry, I know it's a delusion.

It's a very sparse gold with small square glitter combined with larger hexagonal glitter. I'm very surprised by how often I have been doing an accent nail as of late. I never used to be a big fan, but I think in the end I'm attracted to not having to choose between multiple colors.

close up of the accent nail

These are the people who took me! It was their boss's son's wedding, and I think we all had a lot of fun. I may have had about 3 Shirley Temples. They're pretty much my favorite. You just can't beat grenadine when it comes to taste!

Amanda's boyfriend Joey, Amanda, me and my date Dan!

Whoooo! Rollercoaster!

This weekend I was planning to go to King's Dominion so I did roller coaster nails! AND I borrowed my mom's fancy digital camera so the pictures are actually pretty darn good. 

I'm a big fan of the loop-de-loop

I knew I would not be able to imitate the roller coaster on my right hand, sooooo I drew all the people waiting in line! Clever, right?

 I'm pretty happy with my decision to have my nail design correspond to my hand being open. It would have been a really boring roller coaster if I had done the design my usual way. Straaaaaiiight across.

Closer view of the people

I couldn't find my Sally Hansen black nail pen, so the black is kind of sloppy. I'm not as good at straight lines with a dotting tool.

Whoooo!

My favorite are the baby-people

I really need a digital camera; these pictures are exponentially better. You can even see the shimmer in the blue polish!

Vintage Lace

I got a new tealish color and wanted to showcase it. So I was going to just do black lace on top of the teal, but then I got distracted by how pretty a lace would look over a nude color. So I just did an accent nail. I like both the teal and the nude, but not so much together.

The stamps on my right hand are neater, but my left hand cannot take pictures.

I am EXTREMELY proud of my stamping here.Bundle Monster's stamping plates are quite pretty, but the full nail plates are very very small. My nails are long enough that the Konad (knock-offs) are too small too! So on my left thumb I stamped the bottom part separately and it lined up alright!

I'll probably re-do them soon. I have very mixed feelings about this whole scheme.

Vintage 4th of July

 I am totally obsessed with vintage. It can take anything ridiculous and somehow make it classy. Want a circus-themed wedding? Sounds like it could be tacky. which I just actually typed as taxi. I may or may not be watching 30 Rock while typing this. How about a VINTAGE circus-themed wedding? Sounds delightful!

Every year I have a hard time painting my nails for the Fourth because I dislike predictability. I stared at like 25 polishes and my nail stamps for quite some time before I figured this one out. Cause, who doesn't like dots!

I am getting so much better at pictures! Or I started taking them with the highest quality settings possible on my phone

I. Love. These. The blue refuses to be photographed correctly. Originally I was going to go more classic and make the red ones striped and the blue dotted, but then I realized drawing 8 nails with stripes would make me want to hurt something. So I pretended I wanted to be different and switch it up! When really I am just lazy.

I like the surprise sparkly bits bestest of course.

This may not be my best quality blog post as far as words go...late nights are not my friend.

Bridal Nails (Finally!)

So I promised bridal nails quite some time ago... Sorry about that; this semester was a bitch. I actually did these over a month ago and never posted them. Please forgive my atrocious cuticles and broken nails. At least my short pointer finger allows me to demonstrate that a proper french manicure can make a short nail look longer.

Everyone loves a french manicure when it comes to weddings, so I tried to give some variations of that popular theme. Also not my best work; it's hard to commit to the necessary artistry when I know I'm only doing these for pictures..

Glitter!!

I absolutely love the glitter fade. It can be done in any color and is a fantastic way to glitz up an outfit without overdoing it too much. Usually I do a layer in a similar lighter glitter. I've found the best way to make the fade is to sponge on layers of the glitter polish. If you try to paint it on, the tips of your nails will be ridiculously thick.

a better view of the heart

This is my other hand, much less exciting. But it shows some simpler variations on the french tip. The pinky is a french tip with a layer of white glitter on top. Then of course once can do a small colored stripe below the white, perhaps in one of your theme colors. Tips can of course, also be done in colors other than white. . I have a friend getting married soon whose wedding colors are peach and champagne, but I have to admit peach does not make a very good tip color. 

more glitter!

 Now these I carefully planned out and I am IN LOVE. Right now I'm pretty sure these will be the nails I wear to my wedding. I love spectacular nails, but even I want to keep it classy on my wedding day. These still allow nail art, and I love the subtle naughty theme, bridal lingerie, but on your nails! On my left hand, I did an accent nail that represents the garter.

Deliciously naughty without broadcasting it to the world

And the back of a corset adorns my thumb

My right hand has a bustier and a veil. No one really got it was a veil, but that's cool. 

Detail of bustier. I love saying that word out loud.

Detail of veil

My original idea was simply to have a single garter on my ring finger and nothing else. The classic accent nail, but also of course the ring finger is obviously symbolic on a wedding day. I added the other nails for demonstrative purposes, but without a doubt I'd rather just have the single garter.

Detail of garter

Still working on my photography skills. I really think proper lighting would do the trick, but I may need to invest in a camera.